Sweet Maria's Weblog

6/25: Wait, two more coffees to add: We're excited to have the new harvest to offer from of our regular farms: Panama Organic La Berlina Estate Typica, this lot is a creamy classic Central with caramel-malt sweet notes. and a savory tone as well. Secondly we are adding a new peaberry today: Kenya Kirinyaga -Karinga PB which cups as a more balanced Kenya than recent arrivals. It has a reduced acidity and does well at dark roast levels too.

Honduras Cup of Excellence 2009!
Is this the finest and most inspirational photograph ever taken at a
Cup of Excellence coffee competition. Yes, yes it is. Kudos to the
photographer who captured this moment as producers in Honduras watch
the live internet auction. That donut looks soooooo tasty! We are sharing lot #8 with Ritual Coffee Roasters.
--
-Tom

In this pairing, we are offering two coffees that are different varietals, Pacamara and Bourbon. Bourbon is an heirloom Arabica varietal from Reunion Island off the coast of Madagasgar. Pacamara is a more recently developed hybrid. In a thread on the Home Coffee Roasting Forum, Tom has posted with a PDF of an article from the El Salvador Coffee Consejo with more on the origin for both varietals. Besides the differences in the plant itself, how it is grown and where, there is a specifc flavor associated with both these varieties, a profile that can dominate the regional effects,. i.e. Bourbon or Pacamara coffee will tend to taste more like other coffees of the same variety, rather than other varieties grown in the same region. For the El Salvador Siberia Estate Bourbon we targeted somewhere between City+ and Full City. Final thermaprobe temperature readouts were 436 degrees, with roast times in the 15 minute time frame. Roasts were taken a bit darker for the El Salvador Montanita Pacamara into the Full City range with final thermoprobe temperatures of 443 degrees and roast times around 15:30 minutes. In cupping each coffee only a few hours after roasting there are some striking differences in these two varietals grown in the same country. The Bourbon has a bit of the orangey zing Tom mentions in the review and a more mild flavor profile over all. The Pacamara seems more complex, with definite acidity that puckers the cheeks a bit balanced with more foresty notes. Generally, we want you to be able to compare these coffees at the same roast level, here the Bourbon is markedly lighter than the Pacamara but I think both are outstanding coffees at these roast levels and the Bourbon in particular has great flavor both lighter and darker than I roasted it today.